The temperature had gone down to 8 degrees when Tiffany reached the lobby of her apartment. Cupping a hot coffee in her hands, she said goodbye to her date that night.

“I had fun,” she said and gave her best smile.

“Me too,” said her partner of the night. He was a gentleman and it had been a perfect date. After he picked Tiffany up from where she works, they had a little stroll along the night street with the company of warm soju. Then they entered a small but cozy restaurant for dinner and spent the rest of the night there until it was getting too dark and too cold. The man took Tiffany home and there they were now, standing in front of the door, looking at each other.

“Thank you for the wonderful night,” Tiffany bowed a little.

With a gentle smile, the man bowed back and moved closer to Tiffany. “Thank you,” the man leaned forward, aiming for Tiffany’s lips. The latter girl froze for a moment, waiting for the man lips to touch hers but then she reeled back.

The man took the hint and pulled himself back. “Sorry.”

Tiffany shook her head. “No, I’m sorry. I just… can’t.”

The man took a few steps back. “I understand,” he smiled and then bowed one more time. “Good night.”

Tiffany waved goodbye to the man as he blended with the dark night. She sighed after that and went inside into her apartment. She climbed the stairs to the third floor and entered her room.

“I’m home…,” she said so softly like a whisper.

Walking into the empty apartment, she threw her bag on a sofa and turned the TV on. It was showing the late night news. A skinny reporter was reporting live from a crime scene.

“This is the sixth bust in the city done by a mysterious party in Yeohwa and they have once again beaten the police in uncovering one of the biggest weapon smuggling activities in the city. Although the scene is filled with illegal guns and rifles, the police claimed that they can’t find any solid evidence to link this event to any of the Families that rule the underground world of Yeohwa.”

Tiffany cringed at the news then the image changed into two news anchors in the studio.

“Thank you for the live report. Do you think this bust is done by the mysterious Ungnyeo?” said one of the anchors.

“I do not want to make any assumption but I am glad to see a group of people, or someone, standing up for what’s right in Yeohwa. That city needs major straightening.”

“Well, whoever or whatever it is, I hope that they stay mysterious. Because with all the things they did, imagine the amount of enemy they have right now.”

“I sure hope so.”

Tiffany turned the TV off in annoyance and then her eyes moved to a framed photo on a small desk by the window. It was her and a girl that was once so special to her. She approached the desk and angrily slammed the picture upside down.

“Stupid Taeyeon.”

**

Im Yoona was already skipping sleep for the last two days but she showed no fatigue whatsoever. Her eyes were as sharp as every and her movements were still perfectly precise. That night in the police station, Yoona was doing another all-nighter to study and track down a case that would be one of the biggest illegal weapons smuggling in the City of Yeohwa. As a rookie intelligence police officer, she felt like she had to do a huge breakthrough so no one would look down on her and this case was it. She was drowning herself in the old records and making timelines to try and figure where the smuggling would be done when the guard knocked on the door.

“Miss,” he said, “I suggest you rush up to the office.”

Yoona looked up from a file she was reading and fixed the position of her glasses. “What?”

“The Lieutenant has caught himself the smuggler. Your smuggler.”

“What?!”

Leaving all the mess she created, Yoona rushed to the first floor. There was already a crowd in there, both police officers and reporters. After fighting her way through the flock, she reached the office where her Lieutenant was standing by his desk, talking to his phone.

“Yes, Sir, we are saying nothing yet to the press at the moment. No, Sir. They came up with that on their own. Yes, Sir,” the Lieutenant seemed upset and angry. “Yes, Sir. Understood, Sir.”

Yoona waited for the man to hang up the phone before walking toward him. “Lieutenant?”

The tall man with protruding stomach looked at Yoona and sighed. “Great timing, Rookie. Come,” he said and flexed his index finger as a sign for Yoona to follow him.

The young girl followed her Lieutenant to the back of the office, into a corridor with doors and mirrors on the each side. Then, they stopped in front of a door at the end of the corridor. Two police officers were there, looking into the mirror.

”I heard-,” Yoona tried to ask something but the Lieutenant had cut her sentence.

“That was the Governor,” he said. “He wants to know who the fudge is the Ungnyeo.”

“The Ungnyeo, Sir?”

“It’s the name the press came up for the person who caught all the bad guys these past few months,” said the Lieutenant again in annoyance. “He wants no vigilante in his town.”

“Right,” Yoona nodded.

“Now, this thug,” the Lieutenant tilted his head to the room on his side. Behind the thick one way glass, sat a man on a chair with handcuffs around his wrist. “He claimed to have seen the Ungnyeo eye to eye. Your job is to…. Ah, crap.”

Yoona’s eyes widened when the Lieutenant suddenly rolled his eyes and looked past her shoulder. “Sir?”

“Here she comes,” said the Lieutenant.

Yoona turned around and saw a woman in a very neat set of suit was walking toward them. “Lieutenant Han.”

The Lieutenant didn’t respond to the greeting.

“I’m Major Lee Dahae from Organized Crime Investigation Unit, I am sure you have heard about me from-.”

“Yes, yes,” the Lieutenant nodded and he walked away. “He’s all yours. And that girl too. I’m out of here.”

Yoona was confused. Everything was happening so fast she had no time to think about what was going on. What was she doing there in front of the interrogation room and what was the Lieutenant going to say about her job?

“What’s your name, Miss?” asked Dahae with a smile.

“Um, Im Yoona, Ma’am,” said Yoona.

“Okay,” said Dahae. “How long have you been working here?”

“Eight months, Ma’am.”

Dahae’s eyebrows rose in unison and then she smiled. “Perfect. Stand behind me while I have a talk with this man.”

Dahae opened the door into the interrogation room. She walked inside and looked at the sitting man. “Evening, Sir.”

The man looked at Dahae in fear and Yoona could see cold sweat running down his forehead.

“Im Yoona,” said Dahae, “get inside and close the door.”

Yoona quickly did what she told and stood behind Dahae.

**

“Aah!” Taeyeon slammed the plastic cup after she did a one shot on the milk she received from a ten year old girl named Taylor. “This is strong!”

“Right? I told you,” Taylor smiled as she sipped on her own cup of milk. “It’s the best milk in the world.”

“Yeah,” Taeyeon nodded. “I never tasted milk this delicious before.”

They were sitting on a bench on the roof top of an old apartment, looking down the glimmering night view of Yeohwa. “So, what were they doing when I was away?”

“Only talking and then they left not too long after you went away.”

“That’s it? No touching? No kissing?”

“No.”

“I see,” Taeyeon lifted her feet and hugged her knees.

“Where did you go, Ungnyeo?”

“I had to teach a few guys a lesson for illegally selling guns. And I had to tell them my name,” said Taeyeon.

“Oh, you fought crime again tonight? Cool.”

“You like it?”

“Yeah. I want to be like you, Ungnyeo. I want to be strong.”

Taeyeon looked at the little girl and her innocent pair of eyes. “What do you want to be strong for?”

“I want to kick those bullies at school.”

“Oh, yeah? What do they do to you?”

Taylor curled her lips. “They call me names.”

“Like what?”

Taylor sighed. “They call me ‘Taylor the Ghost’ because of my pale skin. And sometimes ‘Drunk Kid’ because one of them saw my mom hit me when she was drunk.”

“Your mom hits you?”

“Sometimes…. Only when she has too much of my father’s yelling and beating.”

Taeyeon looked away from Taylor and stared at the city landscape instead. “You know you can always kick those bullies anytime you want.”

“Nah, they’re bigger than me. I swear one of the girls is a direct descendant of a troll. Her body is so enormously huge I think it was her who blocks the sun on the eclipse.”

Taeyeon laughed. “Here,” she put one hand on Taylor’s head, “I shall give you a tiny bit of my strength. When those bullies hit you, hit them harder. If they hit you again, hit them even harder. Then they’ll leave you alone.”

Taylor’s eyes sparkled like stars were hiding behind them. “Oh, my God! Thank you so much, Ungnyeo!”

“It’s just because you gave me milk,” Taeyeon stood up and smiled. “I have to go now. Go to sleep, Taylor.”

Taylor nodded and she watched Taeyeon walked to the edge of the rooftop.

“Oh, and one more thing. Call me Taeyeon.”

“Right,” Taylor nodded again.

Taeyeon waved goodbye at the little girl and she leaped off the building.

**

“I swear to God, me and my friend got the money sent to our mailbox! We don’t know who send it!” said Choi Kiduk when he was asked by a very stern looking girl in suit in the interrogation room.

Lee Dahae, the woman in charge of the interrogation, tapped her pen on the iron table a few times, making Kiduk even more nervous than he already was.

“This was my first gig. I didn’t want to do it but my friend forced me to,” he said.

“Bollocks,” said Dahae, “I have your record right here and it says you have been doing illegal stuff since you were young, Choi Kiduk-ssi.”

“What?!” Kiduk’s eyes almost jumped out off their socket. “Those are lies! I am not a criminal!”

“Then what were you doing hauling those guns?!” Dahae raised her voice and Kiduk reeled to the back of his chair in fear.

“Come on, Lady,” Kiduk begged, “I have a wife and a son.”

“Then tell me who told you to load those weapons.”

“I don’t know!”

“Then there’s nothing I can do for you,” Dahae stood up and walked to the door.

“No, wait!” Kiduk said but Dahae ignored him.

Yoona, who was watching from the corner of the room, opened . “The Ungnyeo.”

Kiduk turned to her and so was Dahae.

“What?” asked Kiduk.

“You met the Ungnyeo. It was him – or them – who confronted you. Tell me about the Ungnyeo.”

“Im Yoona,” Dahae intervened the question. “We’re done here.”

Yoona was confused. “What?”

“If I told you about the Ungnyeo then you will let me go?” asked Kiduk in a hurry.

“What do you know about the Ungnyeo?” Yoona walked closer to the table.

“You don’t need to know anything about that. We’re finished here. Let’s go, Im Yoona,” said Dahae.

“But, Ma’am-.”

Dahae glared at Yoona and opened the door. “Let’s go.”

Yoona hesitantly followed Dahae out of the room but then Kiduk started to shout.

“It was a girl! The Ungnyeo was a girl and she was alone!” he said.

Dahae turned to Kiduk and looked at him with cold eyes.

“Her name is Kim-.”

Dahae slammed the door closed. The woman then walked along the corridor, away from the interrogation room.

“Ma’am? Ma’am, wait!” Yoona ran after her.

Dahae ignored her and kept on walking.

“Ma’am!” Yoona yelled out.

Dahae stopped and sighed. “Yes?”

“Don’t you want to know about the Ungnyeo? He said it was a girl. He knows something. We should ask more of it.”

Dahae crossed her arms. “The man knows nothing of the Ungnyeo. He was seeing things.”

“But-.”

“Have you seen the crime scene?”

“No.”

“There was a crate of box, this huge, full of weapons” Dahae stretched her arms to the sides, “thrown into a window and there was a hole in a very thick wall. Do you think a girl could do that? Alone?”

Yoona slowly shook her head. “I suppose not.”

“The Ungnyeo doesn’t exist,” said Dahae and she walked away again.

Yoona watched the woman leave and then she turned to the interrogation room. The two police officers guarding the room was taking Choi Kiduk away into the jail and when he was in there, Yoona would need a Level 3 permit to visit him. 

Not satisfied with how Lee Dahae put an end to that night, Yoona took out her note and wrote ‘Ungnyeo, Female, name starts with Kim’ on a page. She will follow this matter through and found out who or what the Ungnyeo was.

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